Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

97 reviews

misha_ali's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This was informative, engaging, and a fantastic journey of discovery, both scientific and personal. When I started this book, I did not expect to be taken on a tour through the childhood of this young man who grew up to be a person most would categorize as a heroic figure, battling valiantly against science and nature to add order to chaos, only to end up breaking down the real-world harmful beliefs of this person. Lulu's own personal journey to find meaning is an engaging thread through the sometimes colder threads of science throughout this book and I love the way she's wrapped her own search for meaning into this book's research. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

If you like reading about science and taxonomy, this would be a good book for you. If you’re loosely interested, maybe you would as well. I am not interested in these subjects but the way the author tied the subjects into her own story about life and how the universe is not as it seems… well I was interested to know why fish don’t exist. It was good book! Definitely not what I was expecting but it was enlightening and relaxing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Homophobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Ableism, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I truly did not know what to expect with this book, but on the whole I thought it was a fine memoir/biography with a little bit of science sprinkled in. I don't think it's particularly mindblowing and I think it's definitely overhyped, but overall it was fine. I didn't know anything about David Star Jordan, and now know he was an awful eugenicist (and honestly odd to sort of have that be a Big Reveal when it's in the intro paragraph to his wikipedia page) who probably had Jane Stanford murdered for rightfully trying to get him to face consequences. The best parts of the book are Miller's interviews with survivors of the sterilization program and the bit about taxonomy at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Murder, and Racism

ominous_emu's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

llouise16's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Rape

rin_dawg's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

A challenging read, but also an important one. A story that ended up being about topics that I never would've expected based on the synopsis. Many of those topics were heavy and difficult, but I appreciated the way Miller wove them together. The novel felt raw and human in a way that really stuck with me, which was especially surprising with it being non fiction. Also loved how the audiobook ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Racism, Genocide, Emotional abuse, and Ableism

clararae's review against another edition

funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt

confuzzledsheep's review

reflective medium-paced

3.5

If you are not a biologist, or even yet a Taxonomist, and want to reflect deeply on one's own sadness in the story of the author and David Starr Jordan, then this may be helpful for you. As a depressed biologist who's been long disillusioned with the myth of a Sole Genius Scientist and has already had many of the discussions within this book, I will rate it as passing. I found this book lacking in detail on David Starr Jordans life that I expected it to have- furter discussion of the problems with the Holotype model of taxonomy, the sheer brutality of scientific discovery during the time period. This book touches on those, but never gets as deep as it could. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Ableism, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child death, and Child abuse

londoncaten's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

very interesting, I really enjoyed the plot twists and learning about new things. some of the concepts were a little confusing, but the author broke it down and explained it very nicely. great read! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt